So, I'm going to cut to the chase and not draw out the story I started. Bottom line: my wife delivered the baby via cesarean section. Since it was discovered he was in breech position, there was no room for debate. I saw some of the operation, but stepped back to comfort my wife when the doctors prepped the muscle spreader. No one wants to see their best friend's guts.
Our son is named Alastair William. He was born at 4:22 AM on a school night. 9 lbs. 8 oz and 20.5 inches. A beast. But a cute beast. I'm torn between anonymity and ...nymity? We've received lots of feed back on the name. Here's its story:
A couple weeks after Emily and I found out about her pregnancy, I had a dream that we had a son and his name was Alastair. I shared this with my wife. When the sonigram revealed his male sex, my Emily said: "Alastair it is." For the next 6 months, I played devil's advocate with the name but Emily was convinced it was his name too. We kept the name secret from most (as recommended by sundry friends and advice books). When he was yanked from his little studio apartment, the name stuck even faster.
So this brings me to my dad being an asshole.
When I was growing up my father was like a force of nature. Unpredictable and occasionally cruel. Not abusive, just hard to get along with. Once I moved out, things got better. He took action to improve his life and I did so with mine. We've gotten along extremely well for the past 10 years or so. We still do. However, as I escorted my parents--now grandparents for the first time--my father reverted to his old self. He stated that it was inconsiderate for me to have named our child what we did, that he (and therefore we) would have to deal with this the rest of his young life.
Now I appreciate the viewpoint, but here I was, about to introduce my family to my new family. I was sleep-deprived and high on adrenaline and basking in the glow of my beautiful son and wife and the day and this prick lectures me in the parking garage?
Question:
Should I tell Pops what I think?
When I Watch
15 years ago
1 comment:
Well, *I* still like the name Alistair! No, it's not a typical tough guy name, but then again I don't imagine that you would raise a typical tough guy son. Anyway, I think it's distinctive without being too far out. As for talking to your dad about his comments - it's tricky. I have absolutely no power to effectively chastise my old man so I generally don't try anymore, but your situation might be different...
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